Lumen in tenebrae. A Comparison of Images on Ceramic Oil Lamps from Three Military Camps on the Frontier of the Roman Empire in the Lower Rhine Area

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Figure front page: Collection of picture lamps from Velsen 1 (photo by author). W.L.G. Bol, Margrietlaan 16, 2685 VG Poeldijk. awnkwadrant@hotmail.com 0174-244436

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3 Table of contents Prologue ... 5 1 Introduction... 6 1.1 Research background ... 6 1.2 Research gap ... 7 1.3 Plan of action ... 9 1.4 Theory ... 10

1.5 Outline of the thesis ... 11

2 History of Roman picture lamps ... 13

2.1 Lamps in the Roman Empire ... 13

2.2 Roman picture lamps in the period 20 BC-AD 70 ... 16

2.3 Picture lamps in archaeological research ... 19

3 The sites of Nijmegen Kops Plateau, Velsen 1 and Haltern and their picture lamps ... 23

3.1 Nijmegen Kops Plateau ... 23

3.1.1 Historical characterization ... 23

3.1.2 Picture lamps from Nijmegen Kops Plateau... 26

3.2 Velsen 1 ... 27

3.2.2 Picture lamps from Velsen 1 ... 29

3.3 Haltern ... 30

3.3.2 Picture lamps from Haltern ... 34

3.4 Towards a site comparison ... 35

4 Classifications of picture lamp motifs ... 36

4.1 Grouping and meaning ... 36

4.2 Regional comparisons ... 38

4.3 The work of Eckardt ... 39

4.3.1 Research set-up ... 39

4.3.2 Correlations between place and motif ... 40

4.3.3 Classification method ... 40

5 A comparison of picture lamp motifs from the northern Rhine region ... 44

5.1 Motifs identified at Nijmegen Kops Plateau, Velsen 1, and Haltern ... 44

5.2 An inter-site comparison of motif categories ... 48

5.2.1 Deities... 51

5.2.2 Cupids & Myths... 52

5.2.3 Daily/rituals and objects ... 53

5.2.4 Erotic scenes ... 54

5.2.5 Gladiators ... 55

5.2.6 Entertainment ... 58

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5.2.8 Rosette & Wreath ... 60

5.3 A comparison with other sites in the Roman Empire ... 61

5.4 Equivalents in Roman art ... 64

5.5 Amulets... 69 5.6 Depositions ... 72 6 Conclusion ... 74 6.1 Aims restated ... 74 6.2 Research questions ... 74 6.3 Methodology ... 76 6.4 Results ... 77

6.5 Ideas for subsequent research ... 77

Epilogue ... 79

List of figures ... 80

List of tables ... 83

Abstract ... 84

Bibliography ... 86

Appendix I: Eckardt 2002, 128, table 11 ... 96

Appendix II. Motifs in Eckardt’s work ... 97

Appendix III. Categories and motifs in Nijmegen Kops Plateau, Velsen 1 and Haltern ... 108

Appendix IV. Images on picture lamps Nijmegen Kops Plateau……….………...137

Appendix V. Database categories and motifs Nijmegen Kops Plateau…………..……….…..152

Appendix VI. Images on picture lamps Velsen 1……….……….……….……155

Appendix VII. Database categories and motifs Velsen 1………..…………...……..186

Appendix VIII. Images on picture lamps Haltern……….……….193

Appendix IX. Database Haltern……….….………..206

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Prologue

It is dark outside, extremely dark. The lighting moon and stars only appear when the sky is clear. A few campfires cast their glow. Inside the barracks the arrangement of furniture and personal belongings is strictly organized. The lighting of an oil lamp creates a shimmering circle of light in the darkness: Lumen in Tenebrae. The soldier demands illumination for his daily activities, including dining, writing, the cleaning of equipment, administration and gambling. But what remains of the darkness? In the obscurity one fears noises, shadows, ghosts, demons and other dangers. The life of a soldier characterizes itself by both a permanent fear for illness, wounds and death and the hope of prosperity, happiness, wealth and wellbeing. To ensure protection and support one needs an amulet. A relief becomes visible on the disc of the lamp. It slowly appears above the oil level. A squall suddenly takes away the light. Only the smell of the wick is sensible. Surrounded again by darkness; yet the image is impressed in memory.

Figure 1. The relief lightens up in the oil mirror of a replica of a picture lamp from the British Museum in London (photo by author).

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1 Introduction

1.1 Research background

From the first century BC until the fifth century AD the Roman Empire controlled a big part of Europe, North Africa and the Near East centred around the Mediterranean Sea. The Empire’s northern border was secured by the rivers Rhine and Danube. For further protection, military camps with thousands of soldiers were situated at several places along this natural border.

Among the most abundant and enigmatic personal objects archaeologists have found in these military camps are picture lamps, ceramic oil lamps decorated with an image relief on the upside discus (Fig. 1 and 2).

Figure 2. An Amazone with a double ax on a picture lamp from Nijmegen Kops Plateau (photo by author).

Picture lamps – also referred to as Bildlampen, given the high number of publications that have appeared in German – were producedduring the period of 20 BC until AD 70, starting with the reign of Emperor Augustus and ending with the development of the Roman factory lamp (Goethert 1997, 14-15). Oil lamps helped people illuminate their rooms and tents, spaces which were often dark due to the absence of (large) windows. With light it was possible to work, to dine or to recreate during the evening or the night. Originally, such lamps were probably produced by potters in the north of Italy, from where they reached the northern camps via existing trade routes. Later, copies of the lamps were produced locally, in the surroundings of the camps.

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Of special interest are the decorative images printed on a proportion of the oil lamps archaeologists have found. Interestingly, many of these images portray Roman cultural archetypes. These can also be observed in relation to gemstones (precious or semi-precious carved stones), terra sigillata (a specific type of plain and decorated tableware with glossy surface slips ranging from pale orange to bright red), wall paintings, and figurines. Furthermore, they are seen in mosaics, carved reliefs and a large amount of everyday objects, such as ceramics, lamps, glasses, handles of knives, medallions contorniates, coins, pieces of bone games, and walls of the sarcophagus (Bozet 2010, 153). As such, these figurative elements provide valuable insights into the history of Roman art and culture. In the case of lamps, decorative motifs are also informative about aspects of production, as well as instrumental for archaeological typologies.

1.2 Research gap

Studies of Roman picture lamps recovered from military camps, especially those focusing on their decoration, typology and production, have provided insights into the spiritual and material life of Roman soldiers (e.g. Bailey 1980; Mlasowsky 1993; Kirsch 2002; Cahn 2011). Most of these studies have investigated lamps from museum collections1 (e.g. Ivány 1935; Deneauve 1969; Heres 1972; Bailey 1980, 1988; Goethert-Polaschek 1985; Mlasowsky 1993; Goethert 1997; Kirsch 2002; Bémont and Chew 2007). While several studies have proposed classifications of these lamps (e.g. Evelein 1928; Leibundgut 1977; Bailey 1980, 1988; Goethert-Polaschek 1985; Mlasowsky 1993; Goethert 1997; Eckardt 2002; Kirsch 2002), without archaeological contextual information it is difficult to interpret the meaning of these lamps in relation to their place of recovery (Bailey 1980, 1; Kirsch 2002, 1). Thus far, picture lamps have only sporadically been investigated in context (e.g. Rudnick 2001, 49-54, and 164-166). A notable example comes from Eckardt, although she did not found a correlation between motif types or distributions and site context (Eckardt 2002, 133). Similarities in motifs throughout the Roman Empire, independent of site type – i.e. the absence of localized patterns in the (military) frontier

1_{These collections are held by museums in places such as Asberg, Berlin, Cartago, London, Haltern,}

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regions – may hint at a perceived importance of keeping alive a certain kind of shared memory of the cultural heartland.

In the Netherlands, picture lamps are seldom investigated or discussed in archaeological research. Those that have been found are often described in not more than a single paragraph (see e.g. Evelein 1928, 5-27; Vermeulen 1932, 77-87; Bosman 1997, 203-208; Zandstra and Polack 2014, 147-148). Their underrepresentation is striking, as in the Netherlands various sites have yielded an abundance of picture lamps, an integral study of which has the potential to provide hitherto unknown insights. This thesis will address this lacuna through a focused analysis of some 700 picture lamps dated between 20 BC and AD 70 that have been archaeologically recovered from the former military camp Nijmegen Kops Plateau (East Netherlands, fig. 3). Their comparison with picture lamps found elsewhere in the northern Rhine region, such as at Velsen 1 (West Netherlands, fig. 3) and Haltern (West Germany, fig. 3), will assess these lamps within a broader shared cultural framework. In doing so, this work seeks to add to our current understanding of Roman pottery in the Netherlands, as well as broader aspects of Roman military life in the empire’s north-western frontier region.

Figure 3. The location of Velsen, Nijmegen Kops Plateau and Haltern (After Becker et al. 2008, 98, Fig. 1).

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1.3 Plan of action

In order to meet the goals of this research, the following questions will serve as the study’s guiding principles:

1. Which types of motifs can be identified on picture lamps from Nijmegen Kops Plateau, Velsen 1, and Haltern, and what did these mean?

2. How uniform are picture lamp motifs in Roman military camps across the northern Rhine region?

3. How do motifs on picture lamps from the northern Rhine region compare to those found in other parts of the Roman Empire?

4. Do the picture lamps from Nijmegen Kops Plateau, Velsen 1 and Haltern show traces of reuse?

The main purpose of this study will be to make a classification of the motives on oil lamps from Nijmegen Kops Plateau, Velsen 1 and Haltern following the method of Eckardt, and search equivalents on monuments, frescoes, terra sigillata, coins, etc. The three sites are all military camps located in a remote corner of the Roman Empire during the Julio-Claudian dynasty (Fig. 4).

Figure 4. Timetable of Nijmegen Kops Plateau, Velsen 1 and Haltern.

They have been almost completely excavated and all have yielded a considerable number of picture lamps. Furthermore, many picture lamps that date to the same period are available for comparative purposes.

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The oil lamps of Kops Plateau in Nijmegen – excavated by the State Archaeological Service (ROB) in the years 1986-1995 – have been subject of study by the author earlier as part of an internship. He also studied the oil lamps of Velsen 1, published by Bosman (1997), repeating the survey specifically for the picture lamps. For comparison, he visited the museums of Herne and Haltern in Germany.

The images from these sites are often very fragmentary. Yet, thanks to their extensive distribution and high degree of uniformity throughout the Roman Empire, complete motives may very well be inferred from lamps known from other places.

Images will be summarized into motive groups, as many researchers have done before (e.g. Bailey 1980, Goethert-Polaschek 1985, Kirsch 2002, and Cahn 2011). The classification method that will be used here is directly taken from Dr. Hella Eckardt, who did the most extensive and recent categorization thus far (Eckardt 2002). The images of the three sites studied here will be compared to a range of other sites throughout the Roman Empire, all investigated by Eckardt. Using her same categorization, therefore, will also provide the best means for comparison.

1.4 Theory

The theoretical foundations of this study will center around the life cycle of ceramic oil lamps, or the cultural biography of objects more generally, and interpretative archaeology. The cultural biography of objects is one of the items that can lead to explanation of the values of an archaeological site. This discipline is developed from the interpretative archaeology. Interpretative archaeology is a continuation of the post processual and contextual archaeology from the 20th century. This interpretative approach opened the archaeology for a wide range of new interpretations from the social and textual sciences. It is an assortment of theoretical approaches favouring ideas about individual experience such as symbolism and the role of material culture in social relationships rather than general processes (Greene and Moore 2010, 282-292).

The following up cultural biography of objects is a term that reflects the dynamism and versatility of a culture. Igor Kopytoff, who wielded the concept as first, referred to cultural biography on the life of material objects, which built as it were, their own life, which gives them an exceptional value. This concept does not look like a closed, static data with a

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beginning and an end, but as a dynamic process of many ‘stories’, which also are never 'finished'. Therefore the cultural biography is based, that an object has a story to tell and that it never can be painted as a complete picture: the concept generates an infinite process of historical writing and reinterpretation. That means not that therefore nothing can be said about the identity of the object: that the infinitely big story never can be told, but that everything what you can say about identity, is time-bound and relatively (Kopytoff 2006). A picture lamp is not only an instrument to lighten the darkness but also bearer of an image which is in itself an object with a cultural biography. It could be questioned what the origin of an object is and what can be said about the producer. It can tell how the object is used. At the end of the period of usefulness it can change and become a new purpose (Kopytoff 2006, 66-67).

1.5 Outline of the thesis

The next chapter starts with a description of the history of ceramic oil lamps in the Roman Empire. The manufacturing, distribution and main use of the picture lamps will be discussed for the specific period of 20 BC until AD 70, when Nijmegen Kops Plateau functioned as a Roman military settlement. Furthermore, the chapter present an overview of picture lamps as part of previous archaeological investigation.

The third chapter provides historical characterizations of the three sites of Nijmegen Kops Plateau, Velsen 1 and Haltern and their picture lamps. This chapter forms the basis for the inter-site comparison discussed further on in this thesis.

The fourth chapter has as main subject the classifications of picture lamp motifs, which can be grouped in various ways. Over the past century about a dozen studies have appeared that have all proposed different classifications, about motif meaning or significance. This leads to a discussion of the difficulties involved in comparative analyses.The classification by Hella Eckardt, based on a large-scale comparison of motifs throughout the Roman Empire, will be introduced as the most appropriate to be used for this thesis, after which the main findings of her research will be highlighted.

Chapter five provide the comparative analysis of picture lamp motifs from the northern Rhine region, especially the sites of Nijmegen Kops Plateau, Velsen 1 and Haltern.

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Furthermore, a comparison will be made for each of the various motifs related to the three sites. This will be followed by a comparison with other sites in the Roman Empire. The chapter ends with a description of some equivalents of Roman art on other image bearers in the Empire. A main focus in this last section will be the reuse of picture lamp images as amulets and their assumed ritual deposition.

Finally, chapter six will present a brief review and the main conclusions of this thesis research. It ends with some suggestions for future research.

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2 History of Roman picture lamps

2.1 Lamps in the Roman Empire

“Lumen in Tenebrae” means: light in the darkness. Before human use of electrical power, people depended on fire for activities that needed light. This could be an open fire, torches or chips of resin-rich wood, candles or metal or clay oil lamps (Goethert 1997, 10). Initially campfires were the most used form of illumination both within and outside the house. Over time the candle or oil lamp gradually replaced the campfire for lighting inside. The first oil lamps were formed by hand from clay in the Near East already in 3000 BC (Provoost 1976, 23). These were open dishes with a compressed nozzle. In Greece since the late 7th and 6th century BC lamps were made on the potter’s wheel, which provided them with a half-round nozzle and a deck plate. Until the 3rd century BC production facilities were restricted to the Greek East. From that time lamps were produced in moulds made in series, in a connected upper and lower part (Fig. 5). This process was later adopted by the Roman potters (Goethert 1997, 10). Only gradually production also started in Italy, but it would take until the second half of the 1st century BC before a distinctively Italic-Roman lamp was developed (Kirsch 2002, 5). This form dispersed along the Mediterranean trade routes.

Figure 5. The most important parts of a ceramic oil lamp (after Goethert 1997, 32, fig. 14).

The many different lamps Romans used for their evening activities were made of either clay or metal (bronze, iron, or lead). The clay lamps can be subdivided into picture lamps (Bildlampen), factory lamps (Firmalampen) and open lamps (Fig. 6). Picture lamps are oil lamps with a picture or image on their discus (Eckardt 2002, 179; Goethert 1997, 15). The

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lamp’s nozzle has a round or angular form accompanied by volutes (Fig. 6, types I-VIII). Factory lamps – thus named for being mass-produced – first appear around AD 75 (Evelein 1928, 41) as copies of bronze lamps. They usually bear a stamp at their base of the place where the lamp was produced (Fig. 6, types IX-X). Open lamps, lastly, are not covered with a discus and can take various forms. Their generally larger size enables the input of much more fuel so that they are able to burn longer (Fig. 6, types XI-XIV).

Figure 6. Form types of clay lamps found in Vindonissa. Numbers I-VIII picture lamps, IX-X factory lamps, XI-XIV open lamps (Loeschcke 1919, Table I).

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Primitive lightning was more important in Roman daily life than we can imagine. Probably having learned about their use from the Etruscans (Blümner 1911, 135) and Italic people (Goethert 1997, 10), candles and oil lamps were illuminated many Roman households. Lamps were used during the meal, study, administration, as night lamp, at the thermae, the theatres, the temples, and also in graveyards (Goethert 1997, 19). A wall painting in Pompeii shows some of these evening activities for which a lamp was necessary (Fig. 7). But also the dead were accompanied by lamps in their graves for illuminating the afterlife and to protect against evil ghosts.

Figure 7. Wall painting (1.03 x 0.72) in Pompeii, probably in the House of Julia Felix, showing money and writing equipment

(http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Pompei_-_House_of_Julia_Felix_-_MAN.jpg accessed on 15.12.20142)

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The painting is nowadays in the Museo Archeologico Nazionale in Napels (inv.nr. 8598). The painting is published amongst others in Croisille, J.-M., 1965. Les natures mortes campaniennes. Brussel-Berchem, p. 28-29, nr.8, pl. CX.208 (friendly announcement by drs. Louis Swinkels, curator of Museum “Het Valkhof”, Nijmegen.

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These various uses of lamps resulted in the creation of many different forms, decoration patterns and production materials. Still, the use of ceramic oil lamps is not efficient. The container needs to be refilled often, it smells and leaves soot. In fact, oil lamps have been called “nasty foreign inventions that burn expensive imported food, cover everything they touch in oil and the ceiling with soot” (Reece 2004, 354).

For Roman soldiers specifically, writing was an important activity that needed artificial light.

Figure 8. Artistic impression of the lit up contubernium (Petruţ, Gui and Trîncă, 2014, 87, fig. 12).

A number of soldiers from each legion had fulltime jobs in the officia and tabularia to record all incoming information (Derks and Vos, 2015, 21-22). Their activities often continued during the evening hours, so having lamps at their disposal was essential. Picture lamps must have been among these lamps, being used in other areas of the camps, such as the barracks, as well (Fig. 8; Petruţ 2014).

2.2 Roman picture lamps in the period 20 BC-AD 70

Roman picture lamps were among those lamps that consisted of a connected upper and lower part (Goethert 1997, 10). The use of moulds facilitated their easy and instant reproduction. Moulds made the production of lamps proficient and organized, resulting in

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large volumes of goods of equal quality. Moulds could be made from either clay or plaster. Clay moulds were more difficult to produce because they needed firing, in contrast to plaster ones which could be left to dry. On the other hand, plaster moulds wore out more quickly, as the surface would degrade faster through frequent use. The production of moulds followed a standard sequence, which Goethert (Goethert 1997, 16) has reconstructed on the basis of experiments she did with a potter in Trier (Germany). First, the potter took an original lamp (Fig. 9, a), pressing it into a piece of clay or plaster in order to make the lower mould. The second mould is made from the imprint of the upper part of the lamp (Fig. 9, b). After the clay has dried half a day, the original lamp is taken out of the moulds and the two pieces are fired (Fig. 9, c). For the production of a new lamp, then, two thin clay discs are placed inside the two parts of the mould (Fig. 9, d). By pressure of the fingers both parts of the lamp are moulded into their definitive form. On moulds that have been recovered archaeologically these fingerprints are still visible sometimes. The lamp shrinks upon drying after which one can remove the mould (Fig.9, e). Another idea, however, is that both parts are being dried separately for one day before they are glued together with clay.

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Finally, with soft clay the handle and holes of the lamp are made. For the handle the potter uses a roll of clay which he scratches with a fork (Fig. 10). The rim is decorated using some clay mud. Afterwards, the semi-finished lamps were dipped in or rubbed with a slip coating called engobe. This engobe could have different colours depending on the metals the clay contained. After filling with a vegetable oil they could be lighted up.

As fuel for their picture lamps, soldiers mostly used olive oil. Usually they did not use olive oil of high quality, as this was expensive and needed for cooking and had to be imported from southern areas such as Spain (Rottländer 1992, 225). Hence, the use of olive oil for oil lamps was generally reserved for high-ranking officers and this would signify a substantial level of prestige and prosperity (Eckardt 2002, 15).For lower-ranking soldier’s common alternatives were naphtha and bitumen. Also used was dried grass greased by fat, wax or sulphur, as were cannabis, hemp, mullein and papyrus (Blümner 1911, 134-138).

The Roman economy knew a widespread system of branch workshops with a sizeable interprovincial trade. Clay could be found almost everywhere and the manufacturing technique of lamps was not difficult (Harris 1993, 19). Because of this, it is likely that the simple terracotta lamps were made in the surrounding of the places where they were sold. During the second half of the first century AD, the production of picture lamps completely came to a halt. Two main reasons have been given for this. First of all, there was less demand for lamps from military legions, because of changes in their social and ethnic structures, with more auxilians, or locally born soldiers, and less soldiers of Roman origin. These auxilians were less familiar with oil lamps and preferred hearths, torches, or chips of resin-rich wood (Leibundgut 1977, 103).Furthermore, from the Flavian period on there is a certain degree of standardization, which could have resulted in the introduction of a new type of lamp, the so-called Firmalampe, which could be produced in greater numbers through optimisations of the production process. This type of lamp, more plain and simple than picture lamps, gradually took over the military market as well. There is no consensus on when these lamps were first produced. According to Loeschke Firmalampe were

probably produced from AD 75 on (Loeschke 1919, 268). However, Fremersdorf thinks such lamps could have been produced already from AD 60 onwards (Fremersdorf 1922, 124-125).

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Figure 10. Finishing of a ceramic oil lamp (after Fremersdorf 1922, 66, fig. 45).

The production of picture lamps for civil purposes went on for amongst others religious connotations. They are mentioned as ‘late antique’ lamps and were produced until the 4th century (Mlasowsky 1993, 434-449).

2.3 Picture lamps in archaeological research

Picture lamps were very fragile so they probably had a short life and had to be easily replaceable. The clay lamps from the first century were thin and fragile. In some cases there are “archaeological complete” lamps, although the size of most sherds is only a couple of cm2. Almost complete lamps often have a broken or missing nozzle. This seems logical, since when such lamps fall, they usually fall on their nozzle. Moreover, lamps could also burst due to big differences in temperature. A third fragile point was the handle. This is evident, since there were many handles found separately in the excavation pits. Furthermore, the disc is often missing between the remains of the lamp. It is possible that the discs were taken to be used as a mould for new lamps or possibly to be used as an amulet. However, this claim needs to be investigated further. Despite the absence of many discs, numerous images of picture lamps did survive andwere identifiable.

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In the past, oil lamps have been found throughout the northern Roman Empire, along the river Rhine and the North Sea, in nowadays Switzerland, Germany, the Netherlands, Britain and France. The first documented excavation took place in Saventhem near Brussels in 1507. It concerned an excavation of a tumulus, a Gallo-Roman grave mound, 17-18 m high and with a diameter of 40 m (Fig. 5). Inside they found a grey stone cave, a sarcophagus, and several kinds of pottery. Special in this regard was the finding of a bronze oil lamp shaped like Priapus, the Greek fertility god, with a phallus on its nose (Fig. 11). The original manuscript in which the excavation was recorded and the lamp image has survived. It is currently kept by the Austrian National Library in Vienna (Lemaire de Belges 2001, VII; XII; plate IV).

Figure 11. Cup and oil lamp (Lemaire de Belges 2002, plate IV).

A second early documented excavation with oil lamps was conducted by archaeological pioneers Bartoli and G. Bellori in Rome in 1691. Their findings marked the start of the collection and study of Roman oil lamps (Eckardt 2002, 17). In the Netherlands, scientific excavations started with Caspar Jacob Christiaan Reuvens (1793–1835), a Dutch Associate Professor of archaeology at Leiden University and first Director of the Leiden National Museum of Antiquities (RMO). Reuvens conducted important pioneering work, excavating, for example, the Roman settlement Forum Hadriani (Voorburg) and a temple complex at

Ulpia Noviomagus (Nijmegen) (Van Enckevort et al. 2014, 44). Although he may not have

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terra sigillata images, which he recognized as an important iconographic source of Roman life (Brongers 2002, 103; 105). Evelein, following earlier work by Loeschke, created one of the first systematic descriptions of picture lamps from a sample collected at a graveyard in Nijmegen (Evelein 1928, 25-27).

Furthermore, there is still a wealth of data to be gathered from picture lamps awaiting analysis in archaeological depots. After the Second World War, the number of archaeological excavations increased dramatically. In the post-war decades of rebuilding and urbanization archaeologists were much occupied with rescue excavations. Time for data processing, let alone writing, was limited, resulting in only a small amount of publications published until the 1990s (e.g. Vermeulen 1932; Holwerda 1943; Schnurbein 1974; Haalebos 1977; Morel 1988). Examples of picture lamp research carried out in this period include the works of Vegas and Goethert-Polaschek in Germany. Vegas (Vegas 1966) described 248 pieces of picture lamps from the Roman camp Novaesium II (Neuss), while Goethert-Polaschek’s study focuses on picture lamps found in Trier (Goethert-Polaschek 1985). In the Netherlands, Bosman completed a dissertation about the cultural findings of Velsen I, in which he devoted one chapter to Roman picture lamps found in the site’s harbor (Bosman 1977, 203-208).

Since the nineties, however, the amount of archaeological publications significantly increased (Lendering and Bosman 2012, VI). This might be explained by the fact that since 1992, based on the Malta Convention, archaeologists are required to present a publication of their findings within two years after closing an excavation site (e.g. Driessen and Besselsen, 2014). Moreover, in the Netherlands, the Dutch government started in 2008 to stimulate publications about important excavations of the past that had not been examined before. In one of the most recent publications Kloosterman, Polak and Zandstra included a chapter on Roman oil lamps recovered from the site Canisius College in Nijmegen during the years 1987-1997 (Kloosterman, Polak and Zandstra 2014, 137-196). Other advances were made as well. For instance, all archaeological data from the Kops Plateau in Nijmegen were collected in a digital database made freely accessible via the digital archive system DANS-EASY (e.g. Van Enckevort et al. 2014, 9).

Also abroad a great number of catalogues of or comprising picture lamps were published. In Germany, Liesen catalogued the lamps from Asciburgium, an Auxiliary fortress and vicus

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near Moers-Asberg (Liesen 1994), Rudnick for Haltern (Rudnick 2001), and Cahn for Colonia

Claudia Ara Agrippinensium (Cologne), the capital of Germania Inferior, including 274

drawings (Cahn 2011). Likewise, Eckardt has tried to describe all the lamps from Britain, based on a great number of excavated sites (Eckardt 2002). For France, Rivet described the picture lamps found in Golfe de Fos (Rivet 2003), while Bémont and Chew produced a catalogue of picture lamps in the Musée d’archeologie nationale Saint-German-en-Laye (Bémont and Chew 2007). In order to add to this current body of research, the next chapter will deal with the archaeological sites of Nijmegen Kops Plateau, Velsen 1 and Haltern.

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3 The sites of Nijmegen Kops Plateau, Velsen 1 and Haltern and their picture lamps

3.1 Nijmegen Kops Plateau

3.1.1 Historical characterization

Nijmegen is situated in the east of the Netherlands and is known as its oldest city (Fig. 12). It was the first Roman settlement in the Netherlands and is one of two former Roman military camps in the Netherlands, the other being Forum Hadriani at present-day Voorburg.

Figure 12. The situation of the Kops Plateau in Nijmegen (Van Enckevort and Wildenberg 2009, 5).

In the last decade of the first century BC, Nijmegen was located at the west end of a row of castra along the Lower Rhine that had been erected for the Roman offensives against Germania. In 12 BC, Drusus created a basic camp in Nijmegen at the time he led his army over the Insula Batavorum against the Usipetes, an ancient Celtic tribe who moved into the area on the right bank of the lower Rhine, and the Sugambri, the people who lived between Lippe and Wupper. The Roman fort was established on a flat area more than 60 m above sea level at the eastside of the Hunerberg hill, the end moraine of the last highest and dry hill at the Southside of the Rhine delta (Fig. 13).

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Figure 13. Elevation model of the Kops Plateau in Nijmegen. The colour scale proceeds from

blue (low elevation) to red (high elevation). Base map: Lidar-based digital elevation model (AHN: Actueel Hoogtebestand Nederland, www.ahn.nl, Beijaard 2015, 56, Fig. 4.4).

The camp’s location provided excellent strategic, logistic, infrastructural and hygienic advantages (Driessen 2007, 67). The location of Nijmegen was also important as it provided key logistics on the river Waal between the rivers Meuse and Rhine and their hinterlands (Fig. 14). These rivers played an important role in trade and providing provisions to the Roman armies, i.e. building materials, wine, olive oil, garum (fermented fish sauce) and luxury goods (Driessen 2010, 60).

Three periods of use can be discerned. In the first period, the Plateau was deforested. The timber this yielded was used to build the fort. The triangular ground plan follows the altitude lines and covered a surface area of 3.5 hectares, with two V-shaped ditches surrounding the fort.

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Figure 14. Nijmegen (red star) along the Waal river. Palaeogeographical map of the coastal

river delta in The Netherlands around 500 BC(after Vos and De Vries 2013, downloaded on

26 July 2015 from www.archeologieinnederland.nl).

The second period of occupation of the Kops Plateau started after the battle of Kalkriese in AD 9. During this period, the Roman soldiers benefited from so-called first location

advantages: facilities had been installed, local field circumstances experienced, basic

necessities assessed and probably a trust relationship with local villages had been established (Driessen 2007, 68). Nevertheless, another, V-shaped ditch was dug leaving the north side of the Plateau open (Fig. 15). Here, the steep slope offered protection (Van Enckevort 1997, 559). Walls continued to be made of wood, earth and turf. The fort was enlarged to 4.5 hectares and expanded with three army annexes outside the fort’s walls. In AD 13, Germanicus, the son of Drusus, took over command. It is unclear how long the fort was in use during this second period (Van Enckevort 1995, 47).

The third period starts in AD 39/40 when a new, smaller fort less than 3.5 hectares was built after the first was destructed by the Frisians (Van Enckevort 2014, 122). Possibly the fort was occupied by the famous ala Batavorum, a Batavian rider unit, in the service of the Roman army, who stayed until shortly before the Batavian Revolt in 69/70 (Bots and Willems 2005, 69).

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Figure 15. Map of contexts related to structures: 1. Principium, 2. Horreum, 3. Praetorium, 4. Stable complex (Beijaard 2015, 15, Fig. 1.4).

In 1972, the Nijmegen Institute of Ancient History and Archaeology excavated at the foot of the north side of the Kops Plateau (Bogaers and Haalebos 1975). Since then, much of the former camp has been reconstructed, such as roads, defensive works, the principium (camp headquarters), the praetorium (residence of the commanding officer), latrines, a drainage system, a horreum (grain depot), stables, kilns, and a grave yard (see Van Enckevort 1997, 2014; Van Enckevort et al. 1995, 1998; Willems et al. 1987, 1991).

3.1.2 Picture lamps from Nijmegen Kops Plateau

The picture lamp collection from Nijmegen Kops Plateau is under the guardianship of the Gelders Archaeologic Centre (GAC) and housed in the depot of Museum Kam in Nijmegen (Appendix IV and V). There have been three major excavations at the Nijmegen Kops Plateau: the first was conducted by Holwerda between 1915 and 1921, the second by the University of Nijmegen in 1975 and the third by prof. dr. W.J.H. Willems the director of the State Archaeological Service (ROB) in extensive field campaigns between 1986 and 1995.

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The oil lamps described in this thesis were found during this last period. Two thirds of the fort has now been excavated. The rest is protected by law as an archaeological monument. The history of the excavations on the Kops Plateau started in 1914 with the accidental discovery of some Roman shards on the northern slope of the Plateau. Holwerda from the Rijksmuseum van Oudheden in Leiden excavated the site and it was the first of many incidental excavations conducted by several scientists over a hundred year period (Van Enckevort 2014, 43-62; 77-83; 103-105). The objects found in the first years were published in 1931 by Breuer. In this publication only two picture lamps were identified (Breuer 1931, 61 and plate VII, Fig. 22 and 27). From the excavation of 1937 only one picture lamp was identified (Holwerda 1943, 43, Fig. 21-I and 52, nr. 2; Bogaers 1988, 22, Fig. 12).

In the period after the Second World War several excavations took place on the Kops Plateau, due to laying new foundations of houses, the construction of roads and the sewer system. The publications in several Annuals of the State Archaeological Service (Jaarboek ROB) about these excavations provide no clues about the presence of picture lamps.

Kam published a catalogue with all the findings from the Kops Plateau. He describes only two lamps, including one picture lamp (Kam 1965, 19 and plate 5).

The ROB excavated almost the entire Kops Plateau from 1986 to 1995. During these excavations, 734 fragments of oil lamps were found, of which 179 were parts picture lamp images. Of these, 61 parts (34%) were indeterminable because they were too small or unclear. The remaining collection of 118 (parts of) images were supplemented with the four lamps found in earlier excavations, resulting in a total of 122 images for the site.

3.2 Velsen 1

The site of Velsen, located at the North Sea in West Netherlands, comprised a military outpost and harbour complex, which together provided a new logistical set-up for the

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coastal delta during the Tiberian-Claudian period (Fig. 16). At this time, Velsen most likely functioned as a supply centre for the military campaigns in the north (Driessen 2014, 225).

Figure 1. Locations of Velsen 1 (phase 3) and Velsen 2 at the left bank of the Oer-IJ (blue), the fort terrain (red) and the annex (yellow) (based at Bosman 2012, 357).

Several phases in the construction of the fort and harbour can be distinguished (Fig. 17). The first phase consisted of the construction of a 1 ha triangular-shaped fort, with one of its sides being formed by the riverbank, as well as a wood-earthen wall, watchtowers, and a V-shaped ditch surrounding the fort. In the river a harbour platform and a number of light dams were constructed. Two shipping houses and a bath house may have been present as well.

a. b. c.

Figure 2. Military outpost and harbour: a. Phase 1b (16-22); b. Phase 2b (25-28); c. Phase 3 (28-45/47) (Drawing: J. Kaarsemaker in Driessen 2014, 211-213).

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During the second construction phase the Velsen outpost was strengthened into a walled trapezium-shaped fort with three defending ditches. Furthermore, an annex was built outside the walls. The absence of large structures and the recovery of vast amounts of tent pins suggest that the Roman soldiers were encamped in tents (Fig. 18).

Figure 3. Reconstruction of a tent for eight legionnaires made by re-enactment group Ermine Street Guard in Westfälisches Römermuseum in Haltern (Van Driel-Murray 1990, photo by author).

Archaeological evidence points towards an occupation from AD 15 to 28 (Bosman 1997; Morel 1988), placing it next in time to the forts of Oberaden, Haltern and Hofheim along the Lippe River (Bosman 1997, 321). The Romans returned to the fort around AD 39 (Bosman 1997, 18) and constructed a new fort 600 m to the west. The purpose of this was to prepare for the invasion of Britain and to protect against the northern tribes, such as the Chauks. The campaigns of Gabinius in AD 40 and Corbulo in AD 47 were meant to counter pirate raids on the northern flank (Bosman 2012, 359-362)

3.2.2 Picture lamps from Velsen 1

The collection from Velsen 1 is in guardianship by the Faculty of Archaeology at Leiden University (Appendix VI and VII). The Velsen fort was excavated from 1972 to 1990 and in 1994 by the Archaeological Workgroup Netherlands (AWN Velsen) and the former Institute of Pre- and Proto history at the University of Amsterdam. Most finds from Velsen 1 were washed away in the Middle Ages as a result of the formation of the Wijkermeer. Small and

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deteriorated fragments were discovered in a secondary position on the abrasion surface at the bottom of the Dirty Sands (Bosman 1997, 9). However, many (parts of) picture lamps have been excavated in the harbour of Velsen 1. The remains of the lamps discovered were thrown into the harbour along with other garbage. They are commonly of type Loeschcke I A: lamps with volutes at both sides of the nozzle and dating from Augustan-Tiberian period. The relative thin sides of the lamp are often broken in small particles and the image is mostly unclear. During these excavations 2810 pieces of oil lamps were found, of which 285 can be ascribed to picture lamps. From these, 29 parts (10%) were impossible to determine. This leaves a total study collection of 256 (parts of) images.

3.3 Haltern

Haltern-am-See is situated on the northern elevated bank of the Lippe River in Germany, on a strategic point, some 40 m above sea level looking over the Lippe Valley to the southwest and southeast and with a clear view of the opposite hills (Von Schnurbein 1974, 5). It is located some 54 km east of Xanten. During the German wars (12 BC-AD 16), Emperor Augustus set up several military complexes along the Lippe River (Mattern 2008, 117) among which also Haltern (Fig. 19).

Figure 4. The location of Haltern at the border of the hills and the low land (based on Becker and Rasbach 2007, 103).

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Haltern played an important role during the governorship of Tiberius and Varus (Kühlborn 2007, 80). The site has traditionally been identified with the Roman occupation base Aliso, but this association is strongly debated (Rummel 2008, 144).After failed attempts to incorporate the area as far east as the Elbe River, the Romans wanted at least to control the right riverbank of the Rhine as far as the Lippe frontier. As river transport was much cheaper and easier than road transport. a location close to a river was highly desired for a large military settlement (Fig. 20).

Figure 5. Plan of the excavations in Haltern on a hill in the “Halterner Bucht” (based on Von Schnurbein 1974, Table 1).

Roman occupation of the site started with a field camp on the Silverberg on the northern terrace of the Lippe (10 m above the river). This camp, which could accommodate two legions of about 11,000 men, measured ca. 34.5 ha and was surrounded by a simple ditch and a wall. The soldiers resided in tents during the campaings of Drusus or Tiberius (Kühlborn 2007, 81). During this same period, also a naval base at Hofestatt was constructed (Fig. 21). The base most likely had an open front harbour, with ship sheds that appear similar to those at Velsen 1 (Kühlborn 2007). Both Haltern and Velsen were bases with a specific function, which resulted in an explicit, extremely practical layout (Morel 1988, 338).

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Due to the relatively small size of the base and width of the river, it is unlikely that the naval base was a station of the Classis Germanica (Rummel 2008, 180).

Figure 6. First phase of the naval base Hofestatt (based on Morel 1988, Fig. V-4).

The fieldcamp was superseded by the main fort (“Hauptlager”) in 7 -5 BC (Fig. 82; Kühlborn 2007, 86; Morel 1988, 331; Von Schnurbein 1981, 44). This fort eventually measured 18 ha (Kühlborn 1995, 88; Mattern 2008, 141-142). The size sufficed for one legion, or 5,300 soldiers, probably being the XIXth Legion coming from Etruria and the plains of the river Po (Italy). In this fort a number of residences and office buildings pertaining to high ranking officers were found (Fig. 22). These include at least ten tribune houses, suggesting this fort was the actual headquarters of Tiberius and Varus (Mattern 2008, 142). Among other remains, archaeologists found roads, pottery kilns, and a landing for cargo (dis)embarkment. Also 24 male skeletons were found, probably victims of a battle near the fort’s southern entrance (Kühlborn 1995, 94; 2007, 83).

There have been traces found both north and south of the main fort of garbage ditches, and drainage canals. This indicates the presence at the fort of a canabae legionis, or a civilian settlement with the purpose of housing the soldier’s wives and children as well as civilian suppliers who service the base. The burial remains of women and children interred with their fibulae and hairpins confirms this assumption (Kühlborn 2007, 85; Mattern 2008, 143).

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The Haltern cemetery is located immediately west of the fort and extends over 450 m to the east. More than 80 graves have been found in two parallel lines (Mattern 2008, 143).

Figure 22. Simplified and schematic plan of the main fort of Haltern: 1 principia, 2 praetorium, 3 and 5-7 officer houses, 4 incomplete block, 8 fabrica, 9 hospital

(valetudinarium), 10 sanctuary? 11 barracks, 12 other buildings, 13 storage at east gate, A porta principalis dextra B porta principalis sinistra, C porta praetoria, D porta decumana, *pottery kiln (based on Aßkamp 1989, 36, Fig. 21 and Von Schnurbein 1974, Appendix 6).

Because of its high number of large houses, Haltern possibly played an important role in the administration of the conquered areas. It is likely that at least some civil services responsible for tax collection and similar activities stayed in Haltern. Indications of other possibly civil activities are present inside the fort, such as the pottery furnaces found in the streets. Pottery was baked in quantities surpassing the requirements of only one army. More likely, Haltern produced for the whole region, as an emporium in the newly formed province.

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The military demise of the Haltern fort coincided with the loss of the Varus Battle (clades Variana) in AD 9 (Kühlborn 1995, 86), when it was hastily abandonned (Von Schnurbein 1981, 40). Interestingly, Haltern continued to be inhabited after the Varus Battle, providing strong evidence it belonged to the area still under control by Tiberius and Germanicus. 3.3.2 Picture lamps from Haltern

Albrecht, Aßkamp and Rudnick published about the lamps from Haltern (Albrecht 1943, Aßkamp 1989, and Rudnick 2001).

The picture lamp collection from Haltern is in guardianship in Germany by the museum für Archaeologie, Westfälisches Landesmuseum’ in Herne and the ‘LWL-Römermuseum’ in Haltern-am-See (Appendix VIII and IX). The largest part of the collection is in the depot of ‘Landschaftsverband Westfalen-Lippe’ in Münster, which was not available for investigation.

The first one who investigated the ceramic types of Haltern-am-See was S. Loeschcke (Loeschcke 1909). Later excavations stretched over many decades (Rudnick 2001, 3-6)3. For this thesis project the author received the opportunity to investigate the picture lamps in both the museums of Herne and Haltern-am-See. In addition to this, information was also used from Rudnick’s publication about the kilns in and around the main fort of Haltern (Rudnick 2001, 49-54; 134; 164-166; 179; 321, Table 1; 326, Table 2; 331, Table 3; 336, Table 4; 340, Table 5; 354, Table 12; 358, Table 13; 362, Table 14; Table 20, Table 29-33). The production of ceramic oil lamps in Haltern was primarily concentrated in kiln 6, south of the

porta praetoria. Only kiln 1 and 2 are exceptions with parts of oil lamps and failed bakeries

also being found there. The lamps that were found include: Warzenlampen,

Vogelkopflampen and Volutenlampen of type Loeschcke I A and III (Fig. 23). Mostly

fragments of lamps were found; no more than two lamps were archaeologically complete.

3

An overall publication did not come out of the press, since Dr. Bernhard Rudnick and his wife Ute moved to Xanten and ended their investigations. The overall publication of oil lamps from Haltern, Oberaden and Anreppen is now done by the Provinzialrömische Referat, LWL-Archäologie in Münster. The author was not given access to these records.

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Figure 23. Examples of the types of oil lamps used at Haltern. 27. Prachtlampen, 33. Warzenlampen, 34. Vogelkopflampen, 35a-b. Volutenlampen (after Rudnick 2001, Table 20 and Loeschcke 1909, 101-322, Table XI).

After these excavations 292 pieces of picture lamps were mentioned in the publications. From these parts 69 (24%) were unidentifiable because they were too small or unclear. The remaining collection of 223 (parts of) images was used for the purposes of this study.

3.4 Towards a site comparison

Now that the three sites and their picture lamp collections have been introduced, the next step will be to determine the various motifs depicted on the lamps. For comparative purposes it will not be the quantities, but the percentages of found lamps that will be taken into consideration, given the significant difference in sample size that exists between Nijmegen Kops Plateau on the one hand and Velsen 1 and Haltern on the other hand. As stated before, the classification that will be used for the grouping of motifs in this thesis will be the one proposed by Eckardt. In order to come to the best understanding of the method and approach taken here, the next chapter will discuss in more detail the work of Eckardt.

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4 Classifications of picture lamp motifs

4.1 Grouping and meaning

Picture lamps have been classified in numerous ways, based either on form, typology, chronology, or, indeed, motifs. Picture lamp images or motifs themselves have also been grouped in various ways. Research of first century AD picture lamp motifs has been concerned with their identification, comparison, and classification. Over the past century about a dozen studies have appeared that have proposed different classifications, some of them still foregrounding form and chronology rather than motif meaning or significance (Loeschcke 1919, Fremersdorf 1922, Evelein 1928, Vegas 1966, Ivány 1935, Deneauve 1969, Menzel 1969, Leibundgut 1977, Bailey 1980, Goethert-Polaschek 1985, Eckardt 2002). The problem with grouping is that an image can have several meanings. A picture of a bull, for instance, could be a symbol of power to protect against the evil, a symbol of fertility, but also just the representation of an animal.

Table 1. Categories of images on oil lamps in Switzerland (Leibundgut 1977, 190).

Categories N %

Goddesses and demigods 138 8.8

Gods, heroes and their attributes 138 8.8

Amor 92 5.8

Bacchic scenes 34 2.2

Mythological animals 33 2.1

Masks and heads 68 4.3

Scenes from the cultural and daily life 139 8.8

Erotic symplegma 159 10.1

Gladiators and arms 198 12.6

Horsemen and race drivers 75 4.8

Theatre, grotesques 21 1.3

Animal fighting groups 92 5.8

Animals (233 = 14.8%): Lions 71 4.5 Deer 39 2.5 Horses 31 2.0 others 92 5.8 Fishes 49 3.1 Birds 74 4.7 Plants 30 1.9 Total 1573 99.9

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Consider, for example, Table 1 and Figure 24, which illustrate a classification into 19 groups of more than 400 motifs from a total of 1573 images on picture lamps from Switzerland, 89 % of which come from the site of Vindonissa (Leibundgut 1977, 189).

Figure 24. Categories of images on oil lamps in Switzerland (after Leibundgut 1977, 190).

A close examination of the image motifs used on the picture lamps can help us to better understand Greek-Roman antiquity (Goethert 1997, 7). The potters used a great number of shared motifs. Possibly the potters had at their disposal a kind of design book based on relief art and paintings (Kirsch 2002, 24; Leibundgut 1977, 196-197). Moreover, some motifs can even provide clues about long lost sculptures or statue groups which were depicted as motifs on the lamp mirror (Kirsch 2002, 1).

One can find similar images on glyptic art (engraved gemstones), toreutics (metal engraving), coins, statuettes, stone engravings and the ceramic art of terra sigillata (Kirsch 2002, 24; Leibundgut 1977, 196). It is sometimes difficult to recognise to what extent the images are based on Roman traditions (Goethert 1997, 39). Most of the images of gods used on pottery in the Augustan era were brought to Rome by Greek artisans who were familiar

Gods, heroes and their attributes

Amor Bacchic scenes Mythological

animals

Masks and heads

Scenes from the cultural and daily

life Erotic symplegmata Gladiators and arms Horsemen and race drivers Theater, grotesques Animal fighting groups Animals (233 = 14.8%): Lions Deer Horses others Fishes Birds Plants